Gene and Jan's Long Trip Too

Nearing Cape Horn we entered the Beagle Channel and headed for Ushuaia, Argentina.  Often referred to as the end of the world, it is the southernmost city in the world and its population of 150,000 makes it the closest population center to the South Pole. Its splendid setting, tucked between the Beagle Channel and the southernmost slopes of the Andes, lends it an outpost atmosphere, as do Antarctic explorers readying for expeditions that depart from here.   As the Viking Sun docked, I stood on the top deck looking for a photo op.  The retractable roof over the swimming pool/sundeck was open but no one was using this recreational facility!  Could it have something to do with the snow capped mountain peaks on the horizon? (Or maybe the 40° outside temperature?) Leaving my cabin to go ashore, I found the entire crew in a mandatory fire drill.  Today it required a complete shutdown of the electrical system to test the emergency generators....

We departed the Falkland Islands at 5 pm on Saturday, November 23rd heading for Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world.  High winds caused our ship to rock and roll for one-third of the 36-hour journey.  As we neared Cape Horn the sky cleared and the winds dropped giving us a fabulous "bottom of the earth" sunset. Cape Horn is within a few degrees of the antarctic circle and with this being the summer season, the days (sun) are 18 hours long. 

The Viking Sun arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on a 2-day stop over.  Six shipping containers of food and supplies were brought aboard, 450 passengers sent home and 450 new ones welcomed aboard. (178 of us long-haul travelers continue our epic journey.)  While the ship was in port, Jan and I booked a 2-day excursion to Iguazu Falls located about 900 miles north of Buenos Aires. Photo courtesy of Enaldo Valadares, Wikipedia The world's largest waterfall system, Iguazu Falls is ranked as one of the top 5 natural wonders of the world.  Located on the boarder of Brazil and Argentina, its cascading falls are 3 times higher than Niagara and more than twice as wide. After our 2-hour plane ride, we reached Iguazu National Park in Argentina. The 900-mile flight returned us deep into the tropical rainforest where we were greeted  to 97⁰ temperatures.  (We had been warned that we would be wet from the time we arrived until we left, either from sweat or...